


butterfly

by seungchxn



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Anal Sex, Beach Sex, Blood and Gore, Bottom Hwang Hyunjin, Butterflies, Caves, Feral Behavior, Fluff and Smut, Forest Sex, Hwang Hyunjin is a Sweetheart, Immortals, Kid Fic, Kidnapping, Kim Seungmin is Whipped, M/M, Magic, Nudity, Pet Names, Reincarnation, Rituals, Running away from your problems, Sex In A Cave, Skinny Dipping, Sort Of, Top Kim Seungmin, True Love, True Love's Kiss, just a little bit though, overuse of the word butterfly, this is mostly a very nice clean fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-08
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-01-25 20:33:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21362278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seungchxn/pseuds/seungchxn
Summary: There is a forest at the edge of the village.No one goes into the forest; children play near its borders, but only when an adult is watching to call them back before they go too far. Hyunjin is no exception to this rule, but he is also far too curious for his own good.
Relationships: Hwang Hyunjin/Kim Seungmin
Comments: 86
Kudos: 362





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [seungjin_chan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/seungjin_chan/gifts).

There is a forest at the edge of the village.

No one goes into the forest; children play near its borders, but only when an adult is watching to call them back before they go too far. Hyunjin is no exception to this rule, but he is also far too curious for his own good.

He’s five years old and he sneaks away from his mother one afternoon and goes running into the forest. He’s heard the legends, of course, about the wild god who lives there, who takes people if they go too far into his domain, but he doesn’t care. He isn’t sure he believes in the wild god, not when there’s no proof of him being real.

He wanders for a while, ducking under low-hanging branches and crawling through the underbrush. Eventually, he stumbles upon a creek, not too deep, but wide enough that he can’t jump over it. It’s hot outside and he decides that it wouldn’t hurt to splash in the water for a little bit.

No sooner has he stepped one foot in the creek before a low growl rumbles through the air. It’s animalistic, inhuman, and Hyunjin whirls to face the noise expecting to see some sort of beast. Instead, however, the sound is coming from a man.

Perhaps ‘man’ is a bit of a stretch to describe him; crouched like an animal, fangs bared and long, tangled hair hanging in his face, he certainly looks like a beast. He’s perched on a rock outcropping a few yards up the creek, poised and tense, ready to strike. Hyunjin steps back carefully, the same way he slowly backs away when Old Man Choi’s dog comes near him.

The rocks in the creek, however, aren’t all stable and one wrong step is enough to send Hyunjin tumbling, his arms wheeling through the air as he tries to keep his balance. Even at five years old, he knows that falling onto the rocks is a bad thing and he squeezes his eyes closed in terror, waiting for the pain he associates with hitting the ground.

It never comes, though, and when he opens his eyes it becomes apparent that somehow the wild man has crossed nearly the whole distance between them in half a second to catch him. Hyunjin is caught up in his arms, almost nose-to-nose with the strange man.

Hyunjin is trembling all over, shaking in the arms of what he can only assume is the strange god people talk about. He thinks he should be afraid but something tells him not to be; maybe if he was older he would question his instincts more but he’s only five and so he embraces that part of him whole-heartedly.

“Hello,” he says quietly. That seems to startle the man and he sets Hyunjin down before springing onto a rock sticking out of the middle of the creek. He shakes himself dry like a dog, his nakedness permitting him to do so.

Cautiously, Hyunjin takes a step towards him. “Thank you for saving me.” When the man just continues staring at him he steps closer and holds out his hand, the way his mother taught him to. “My name is Hyunjin; what’s yours?”

The man grunts, but that’s the extent of his response, and Hyunjin frowns. “You’re supposed to shake my hand and tell me what your name is. Mother said it’s not polite to ignore someone when they introduce themselves.”

The man just grunts again and Hyunjin sighs, in that put-upon way that children do, and takes two steps forward before grabbing the man’s hand. “Handshake,” he says, going through the motions. “This is a handshake.”

He stares at their joined hands, seemingly fascinated. Slowly, he shakes their hands up and down again. Then he does it faster, and faster. He looks back up at Hyunjin, a large smile breaking out on his face. He looks proud, but also like he wants praise. With the fangs and the black eyes and the dirt smudged all over his face it shouldn’t be cute, but somehow it is. 

Hyunjin giggles. He doesn’t understand why everyone said the wild god was dangerous; he just seems confused about how humans should act. “Do you have a name?” he asks. The god just stares at him, head cocked to the side like a puppy. Hyunjin giggles again. “Do you want one?”

Silence. Then, suddenly, a butterfly floats through the air and lands on the god’s head. It’s bright blue, with black spots on its wings. Almost without realizing it, Hyunjin finds himself reaching up towards it.

A clawed hand on his wrist stops him. Slowly, the god lifts his other hand to his head. The butterfly crawls across his hair and onto his finger. He brings his hand down so that it’s right in front of Hyunjin’s eyes, the butterfly still balanced gracefully on his finger. 

Hyunjin’s eyes go wide. “Woah,” he breathes. The butterfly is somehow more beautiful up close. “It’s so pretty.”

The god grunts and the butterfly flits off of his finger and lands on Hyunjin’s nose. The butterfly’s wings flap gently, brushing against his face, and Hyunjin giggles. “That tickles!” His smile is wide, beaming, and for how apprehensive he first was when he saw the god, he can’t help but feel completely safe.

A deep rumble comes from the god, almost like a laugh, but more animalistic in nature. He’s smiling happily, perched like a dog on this rock in the middle of a creek. In the next second, he throws his head back and howls, long and wild.

For a moment there’s silence. Hyunjin stares at the god, unsure of what is happening, but trusting that it’s nothing bad. Then, out of the forest around them, emerges a veritable swarm of butterflies. They descend on Hyunjin, who spreads his arms wide, perching on his skin, on his clothes, in his hair. He shrieks with glee, laughing and spinning in place as the butterflies continue to gather.

Eventually, the god howls again and as quickly as they came the butterflies vanish until there is only one left on the tip of Hyunjin’s nose. It flutters its wings and then flies away when the god blows on it. Hyunjin giggles at the puff of air on his face and the god smiles as gently as possible when he has a mouth of fangs.

In the next minute, their bubble of safety is interrupted by someone calling Hyunjin’s name. He snaps his head towards the sound, then hears a splash, and in the next turns back to watch as the man leaps into the other side of the creek bed.

“Wait!” he calls. “Wait!”

The god turns for just a second to stare at Hyunjin, but then someone is crashing through the underbrush to get to Hyunjin and the god disappears into the forest.

“Hyunjin!” His father grabs him, pulling him up into his arms. He hugs him tightly, holding him close to his chest. “Holy shit, Hyunjin. Oh thank god, I was so worried.”

“Daddy!” he pouts. “You scared the man off.”

Any relief on his father’s face vanishes. “What man?” he asks slowly. “Hyunjin, what man?”

“The wild man.”

“Shit.” His father pales, terror in his eyes. “The wild man? You saw the forest god?”

Hyunjin nods happily. “He was really nice! He caught me when I fell and I taught him how to shake hands and - and he called all the butterflies to come play with me.”

“Fuck.”

“That’s not a nice word,” Hyunjin says with a frown. “Daddy, that’s not a very nice word.”

“Listen to me, Hyunjin. I need you to promise me you’ll never go near the forest again.” Hyunjin stares at his father dumbly; he likes the forest and he wants to see the man again and he doesn’t understand why his father seems so upset. “Hyunjin, I need you to promise.”

Hyunjin pouts but nods his head, holding out his hand for a pinky promise. His father sighs in relief and links their fingers. “Alright, let’s go. Your mother is waiting at home.”

Hyunjin looks over his father’s shoulder as he walks away. Hidden in the bushes, camouflaged by the dying afternoon light, he swears he sees a pair of black eyes staring back at him.

—————

Hyunjin is never allowed back near the woods by himself again, no matter how much he reassures his family that the butterfly man was very nice. Eventually, he stops asking to go or trying to get away, but he never stops thinking that he catches glimpses of black eyes staring at him when he looks at the forest.

—————

“What.” Hyunjin’s voice is deadly calm, monotone, flat. “What did you just say.”

His parents exchange nervous glances, his mother smoothing her hands over her skirt. “Well, Jinnie, you see-”

“You know the last few years have been bad, Hyunjin,” his father interjects. “We haven’t been meeting rent payments on the farm and Mr. Kwon has been generous enough to extend our loan but… We’ve run out of time. He said that we could either leave the home or, well…”

“Or you could marry me off?”

His mother winces. “Sohee is a very lovely girl, Hyunjin, I really think you two could-”

“Mother, I’m sure Sohee is very lovely, but I have no intention of marrying her.”

“Please, Hyunjin.” She's begging, reaching out for him, and Hyunjin’s heart breaks a little to see how desperate she is. “Mr. Kwon said that if you married his daughter, we’d be considered family and we could keep the farm. We wouldn’t even have to pay rent. We could pay back our other debts!”

Hyunjin tries to stay strong, tries not to buckle under the weight of his mother’s pleading eyes, but he’s always been willing to do most anything she asks of him. So, rather than continue to protest, he sighs and says, “Okay.”

—————

His wedding day comes and Hyunjin wakes with a heavy weight in his stomach. It’s been a month since his parents first approached him about this and with everyday Hyunjin tries harder to resign himself to the fact that he’s getting married to someone he doesn’t love. He hasn’t been very successful.

As is tradition, he has the entire morning to himself. It’s supposed to be a time for the groom to reflect on his relationship and the love he has for his bride. For Hyunjin, it’s time to think about the fact that he’s selling himself to save his family.

He wanders around for a few hours, just aimless walking through the village. He knows he has an end goal, however, because, for the first time in years, he feels drawn to the forest. He’s always been aware of it, the looming presence of the forest, has been since the time he met the wild god, but something about today is different.

He doesn’t go into the forest, but he sits with his back against one of the trees at its edge. He wants to scream, but if he does his mother will come running and the last thing he needs is to make her feel guiltier about this. 

Instead, he just clenches his fists and tries to hold off the hot tears welling up in his eyes. “Goddammit!” he whispers fiercely. “Fucking - goddammit!”

He wipes at his eyes harshly. “I hate this. God, I hate this.”

In the next second, he’s abruptly yanked out of his pity party by a hand landing on his shoulder. He shrieks, and launches himself forward, away from whoever is touching him. Then he turns around to look back at the person and his breath catches in his throat.

“Oh my god,” he murmurs in awe. “It’s you.”

The forest god crouches in front of him, head cocked to the side like a puppy. He looks just as wild as he did thirteen years ago, nails long and jagged and hair matted. He reaches towards Hyunjin and, with really nothing to lose at this point, Hyunjin tentatively crawls forward to meet him. The god links their fingers together, then smiles widely. With his free hand, he reaches for Hyunjin’s and starts to shake it.

Hyunjin can’t help but laugh. The god looks so proud of himself for remembering proper etiquette and it’s quite honestly adorable. “Hi,” Hyunjin says. “It’s been a while.”

The god grunts and drops Hyunjin’s hands to reach out and cradle his face. Hyunjin giggles. He knows he should feel scared but he fears nothing in that moment. All thoughts of his impending wedding are gone.

“I’ve grown up a bit, yeah?” he says. “You’ve stayed the same though. Makes sense, I guess, if you’re really a god.”

There’s a low growl and then the wild man is wiping away the tears that had begun to spill down Hyunjin’s face. He’s frowning, clearly beginning to grow angry, but his touch is gentle. 

“Oh, that?” Hyunjin smiles sadly. “I’m afraid you’ve come to talk to me again at a really bad time. See, I’m being forced to get married this afternoon. I really don’t want to, but if I try and run away they’ll chase me down and make me do it anyway.” 

Hyunjin doesn’t think the god understands his words, but he seems to understand that Hyunjin is sad and it just makes him angrier.

His fingers wrap around Hyunjin’s wrist and he starts tugging him towards the forest. Hyunjin pulls back, suddenly alarmed. “No, no, I can’t go with you! They’ll think I’ve run away, they’ll hurt my parents.”

The god doesn’t listen, just keeps pulling on his arm and he’s clearly stronger than Hyunjin. Then, in the distance, Hyunjin hears his father calling for him. It’s calm at first, but suddenly grows more panicked and Hyunjin knows his father has seen what’s happening. 

“Father! Father, help!” 

When Hyunjin cranes his neck back to look behind himself his father and some of the other men in the wedding party are racing towards them.

The god’s grip goes slightly slack and Hyunjin takes advantage of the moment to lunge forward. The hand around his wrist tightens before he can get anywhere though and he falls, slamming his head into the tree.

Everything is fuzzy and his ears are ringing. His vision is slowly going black and the last thing he’s aware of before he passes out is being lifted in the air by a pair of gentle hands.

—————

Hyunjin wakes up and doesn’t realize where he is.

Then it registers that he’s staring at some sort of stone ceiling and he scrambles to sit up. A hand on his chest stops him, and he looks up to find himself staring into the eyes of the forest god.

“What the - what the fuck did you do?” Hyunjin stares at the god with dawning horror on his face. “Where are we?”

He tries to sit up again and just gets pushed back down. Gingerly, his kidnapper reaches out to trace a hand over his hairline. When he pulls his hand away there’s a small spot of blood on it.

Hyunjin’s eyes go wide. “Shit.” His hand shoots up to his head, and he sighs in relief when he only feels a small cut at the edge of his hairline. It’s not bleeding anymore; the blood on the god’s hand must have just not dried yet. His head falls back and he sighs in relief. “Oh thank god.”

Now that he’s established that he’s okay - surprising, really, considering he essentially head-butted a tree - he glares at the god. “I’m going to sit up now,” he says, voice firm. “And you are going to let me because I’m fine.” 

He flinches slightly at Hyunjin’s tone and sits back on his haunches like a dog. Hyunjin takes a sort of vindictive pride in how he almost looks scared when he hears his tone.

Carefully, Hyunjin sits up. His head spins a little bit, but nothing too terrible, and he thinks that he’ll be able to walk fine. First though, before he leaves to get back to his village, he has to figure out where he is.

As he looks around, he grudgingly has to admit that he’s almost impressed by where he’s found himself. It’s a cave, that much is obvious, and although it’s dim he can still see the sunlight from the entrance glinting off of what appears to be crystals of some sort. There isn’t much in terms of furnishings, but he’s lying on what appears to be some sort of soft moss. The entrance to the cave is blocked by falling water. If he were here under any other situation, he’d probably love to have a hiding place like this.

The cave is large enough to stand up, so he clambers to his feet, glaring at the god when he tenses and starts growling. Slowly, he pads towards the entrance of the cave. The god follows him, still growling.

There’s a walkway under the waterfall and Hyunjin follows it, finding himself standing in a large clearing. There is a pond at the base of the waterfall, large enough that it has a small beach. Birds chirp as they flit from tree to tree. It’s beautiful, but Hyunjin doesn’t have time for beauty.

When he turns to look at the cliff behind him, he can see several ways to get to the top. It’s probably not smart to climb them when he’s got a fresh head injury, but he figures that his best option is to follow the river that feeds into the waterfall and see if it takes him back towards his village.

He takes one step towards the closest path he can see, only to hear a hiss before he gets tackled to the ground. Luckily, his head lands on soft sand rather than a hard rock, but that doesn’t really matter when there’s a heavy weight sitting on his chest.

The god is perched above him and when Hyunjin tries to push him off he bares his teeth at him. Hyunjin crosses his arms as best he can when there’s a full-grown man sitting on his chest and glares up at him. He tries his best not to think about the fact that the god is naked. “Can you please get off of me?”

The god huffs and bends down to nuzzle his nose into Hyunjin’s neck. It’s similar to the way the cats Hyunjin grew up with would mark their territory and it suddenly hits him that _he’s_ what’s being marked here.

Oh _hell_ no.

With the god distracted by marking him, Hyunjin is able to push him off. They’re close enough to the edge of the water that he falls in, and Hyunjin takes advantage of his momentary floundering to stand and bolt for the path up the cliff. Again, however, he doesn’t get very far before an arm circles his waist and drags him back towards the pond. He kicks out and screams, hoping that someone hears him, but he knows that probably won’t happen. Disregarding the fact that the god has probably brought him somewhere remote, if he was seen getting taken by the wild man of the forest, then he’s probably been given up as dead. No help will come from the village.

Finally, he stops struggling. The god has clung to him the whole time, and once Hyunjin stills he starts to rub his cheek on Hyunjin’s back. He’s making a low rumbling noise; it almost sounds like he’s purring. “Holy fuck, can you stop?” Hyunjin huffs.

The god seemingly understands him, because he stops and tentatively lets him go. Hyunjin breathes a sigh of relief. He doesn’t try and escape again; there’s no way he would be able to run away from a supernatural being. 

He turns around to face the god, arms crossed and a scowl on his face. He’s crouched like an animal again, and he cocks his head as he takes in Hyunjin’s expression. Then, suddenly, he throws his head back and howls.

It’s a moment eerily similar to the one from his childhood, and so Hyunjin isn’t very surprised when butterflies seem to appear from everywhere. This time, however, they don’t land on him, but on the god himself. Soon this wild man is covered in butterflies, all of them beautiful, vibrant colors. He looks up at Hyunjin, eyes shining with hope.

“Oh my god.” Hyunjin really can’t believe this. Is the wild man trying to woo him or something? “No. No! Calling some butterflies to you won’t make me forgive you for kidnapping me!”

The god visibly droops, and without him having to make any noise all of the butterflies fly away. Only one remains, a beautiful blue one sitting in the palm of his hand. He holds it up towards Hyunjin, eyes duller but still hopeful. 

Hyunjin closes his eyes, trying to maintain his resolve, but when he opens them again he’s still staring at him and oh my god, is he pouting? 

With a sigh, Hyunjin crouches so they’re at the same height and holds out his hand. Instantly, the god’s entire demeanor brightens, and he eagerly transfers the butterfly from his palm to Hyunjin’s. He wiggles slightly as he sits back on his haunches again and Hyunjin watches him with dawning realization. He laughs. “You’re just a giant puppy, aren’t you? Holy shit, you are.” 

The butterfly flies off, but Hyunjin pays it no mind, still staring at the god who looks to be about three seconds away from tackling him again. “If I’m not getting away, I need to have something to call you,” he says. Realistically (hopefully), he won’t need to use the name for very long and he’ll find a way back to the village. Still, for now, it would be nice. His mind flashes to the butterfly from a moment ago, as well as the one from thirteen years in the past. “Butterfly,” he says. “I think I’ll call you Butterfly.”

—————

Now that he’s accepted that he’s going to be here for a bit, Hyunjin easily lets Butterfly tug him back to the cave. This time, since he’s not just trying to find the way out, he takes a longer look. Other than the pile of moss that served as his bed earlier, there’s nothing there. Butterfly looks at him expectantly, seemingly waiting to see if he approves. Hyunjin smiles thinly at him. “It’s very… bare. Pretty, but I won’t be able to survive with just a bed. And I’ll need to eat.”

He can’t tell if Butterfly is aware of any of what he is saying, as he just drags him over to the moss and pulls him down. The way he moves is weird; it’s an odd mix of all fours versus two feet. It’s almost funny to watch, if Hyunjin is honest.

After making sure that Hyunjin is comfortable on the moss, Butterfly presses a hand to his chest. It’s a pretty universal sign that says “stay here” and Hyunjin is honestly too tired to try and fight him on it. He’s not, however, expecting for Butterfly to turn and leave the cave.

He waits for five minutes, but Butterfly doesn’t come back and so he tentatively stands and leaves the cave. He feels grimy, and there’s still blood on his face, and so he takes his boots off and jumps into the water. Once he’s safely submerged he strips, laying his clothes on a rock so they can dry, although the sun is starting to wane, so he’s not sure how dry they’ll get.

Once he’s satisfied that all the blood is gone from his forehead he ducks his head back down, diving under. Tentatively he opens his eyes; the water is crystal clear and he can see all the way to the bottom. It’s like nothing he’s ever seen before; certainly, none of the ponds and lakes near his village were this clear. He can see fish darting around, scales flashing silver in the sunlight, but they pay him no mind so he does the same for them.

He’s enjoying the peace and tranquility of it all, especially considering what an emotional trial today has been, when there’s suddenly a hand on his shoulder and he’s yanked out of the water.

Butterfly, it seems, didn’t realize that Hyunjin wasn’t dying, because he frantically pats at Hyunjin’s face, trying to see if he’s awake. “Hey, stop. Stop!” Hyunjin pushes him away, treading water to keep himself afloat as he glares at Butterfly. “I’m fine. I’m not drowning, I’m just going for a swim!”

Butterfly cocks his head, then swims forward to cling onto Hyunjin, arms around his neck. “Oh my - what the hell!” Hyunjin flounders for a moment before he manages to stabilize himself again. “What the fuck are you doing?”

Butterfly seemingly ignores him, cuddling closer and nuzzling his face into the juncture between Hyunjin’s neck and his shoulder. It’s fine, for a second, and Hyunjin just sort of resigns himself to everything that’s happening. Then Butterfly wraps his legs around Hyunjin’s waist and Hyunjin freezes because holy shit that’s definitely another dick touching his.

“Butterfly,” he says, voice strained. “Butterfly, please get off me.”

There’s no response; whether that’s because he doesn’t understand or because he’s ignoring Hyunjin is impossible to tell. Considering how he’s happily making a sound that sounds vaguely like a purr, though, Hyunjin doesn’t think he’s going to get out of this situation anytime soon.

Well. If he’s stuck like this at least he could get to shallower waters. Treading water with all this extra weight is already tiring him out and so he does his best to move them closer to the shore. It’s slow going, with Butterfly not doing anything to help, but eventually they make it and Hyunjin breathes a sigh of relief when he feels his feet touch the ground.

For a moment, he considers getting out of the water, but he doesn’t trust that the god will stop clinging to him if he does and he’d rather not have to carry Butterfly’s entire weight without the water as a support. Instead, he goes far enough towards shore that he can sit down. It puts him in an even more awkward position than before. Now, instead of their dicks just occasionally brushing together, Butterfly’s is very much pressed against his stomach while his own rests in the cleft of Butterfly’s ass. He stiffens when he realizes what position they’re in, but Butterfly just yawns and nuzzles into his neck again. It’s then that Hyunjin understands that Butterfly really doesn’t understand the implications of how they’re sitting. To him, it’s just natural to be nude. In the face of such innocence, Hyunjin doesn’t know what to do other than accept that this is something that’s actually happening to him and get comfortable with a naked man in his lap.

He doesn’t know why, maybe for a lack of things to do, but he finds himself playing with Butterfly’s hair. It is, quite frankly, absolutely disgusting. It’s clearly not been brushed in a long, long time. His natural instinct is to clean it, and so he does his best. He doesn’t have a comb, which would be incredibly useful, but he does his best to pull it apart with his fingers. He can’t tell if it actually does much, but it’s the best he can do right now.

Hyunjin loses track of how long they sit there, but it’s long enough that he’s pretty sure Butterfly falls asleep. Eventually the sun starts to go down and Hyunjin takes that as their cue to get out of the water.

“Hey. Hey, Butterfly,” he says, gently shaking at the god’s shoulder. “Butterfly, wake up.”

Slowly the god blinks awake. He looks up at Hyunjin and Hyunjin feels something in him melt at the pure trust in his gaze. No one has ever looked at him like that before, and he thinks that it could easily become something he’s addicted to.

Butterfly makes the purring noise again and rubs his face against Hyunjin’s chest. Hyunjin sighs when Butterfly doesn’t seem to want to do anything besides make himself comfortable to go back to sleep. “Come on, you big dummy,” he says, shoving lightly at Butterfly’s shoulder. “I’m hungry. Let me go look for food.”

At the mention of food, Butterfly seems to wake up. One second he’s sitting, pliant and loose, in Hyunjin’s lap, and in the next he’s scrambling out of the pond. Hyunjin watches him go, watches him make his way to a small clay bowl sitting by the side of the pond. It definitely hadn’t been there before he went swimming and he can’t help but wonder where it came from. Then Butterfly comes back to the pond, resuming his position on Hyunjin’s lap without a second thought. This time he’s not sitting against him, but rather straddling him. He holds up the bowl and Hyunjin sees that it’s fruit.

He looks up at Butterfly with wide eyes. “Is this where you went this afternoon? You went and found me food?”

Butterfly doesn’t reply, just picks up one of the berries in the bowl and holds it to Hyunjin’s lips. Normally, Hyunjin would protest being handfed, but he hasn’t eaten since that morning and, quite frankly, he’s starving. Butterfly gingerly feeds him the berry when he opens his mouth and before Hyunjin can even finish chewing he’s holding up another piece of fruit.

They go through the whole bowl like this. Normally, berries do not a meal make, but something about these berries must be different because by the time they finish the bowl Hyunjin is stuffed. He couldn’t seem to get that across to Butterfly, though, because the god insisted on hand feeding him all of the berries. 

When Butterfly leaves again to go put the bowl back on shore, Hyunjin takes that as his cue to stand up. He has a feeling that if he keeps sitting he’ll end up with a lapful of god again and he really just wants to go back into the cave and go to bed.

He wades through the shallows to the rock where he left his clothes, trying not to think about the fact that he can feel Butterfly’s eyes tracking him as he does. He pulls his shirt on, but opts not to put on his pants seeing as he’s just going to get in bed anyway. He thinks he remembers seeing an outcropping that looks somewhat like a shelf in the cave; he’ll just store his pants and his shoes there. 

Finally stepping out of the water, he makes his way to the path behind the waterfall. He stops just before he ducks under the water and turns to look at Butterfly. It’s dark enough outside that he can barely see him, but he can see enough to know that the god is just sitting there watching him. “Well?” he says. “Are you coming or not?”

As soon as he finishes speaking, the god springs forward, hurrying to his side and following him into the cave. It’s pitch black inside, and for a moment Hyunjin freezes, unsure of how to navigate the darkness. Then Butterfly growls sharply, and in the next second the whole cave ceiling is illuminated.

Hyunjin stares at the ceiling, fascinated. Seemingly trapped between the crystals and the rock they emerge from are what looks to be hundreds of lightning bugs. They all glow, and as the light passes through the crystals, it gives the cave an almost magical feeling. “Wow,” he says, awestruck. He looks down at Butterfly. “Thank you.”

Butterfly seemingly preens, then makes his way to the bed. Hyunjin deposits his clothes on the shelf he remembers, then follows him. He curls up on the moss, and for a second the chilled air of the cave has him shivering, but then warm arms are wrapping around him and Butterfly cuddles up to his back. In an endearingly awkward mimic of Hyunjin playing with his hair earlier, Butterfly runs a clawed hand gently through Hyunjin’s. He nuzzles his nose into the nape of Hyunjin’s neck, then goes still.

Hyunjin lays there long after Butterfly has fallen asleep. He tries to get some rest, but the events of the past however many hours keep flashing through his head. Did he really get kidnapped the morning of his wedding like some cliche romantic heroine? And by some sort of wild god of all beings?

For a moment he contemplates trying to escape again tomorrow. If Butterfly goes looking for food again, he could probably run off then. But he abandons this train of thought as soon as it comes to him. Earlier he wanted nothing but to get away. But, now that he’s had time to consider it, he doesn’t see the point. If he goes home he’s just going to be forced to get married. He’s going to have to spend the rest of his life miserable, pretending to be happy when he’s not. If he stays here, stays with Butterfly, everyone will just assume he’s died. No one will come looking for him. He can be free.

It’s not a hard decision to make.

Mind made up, he closes his eyes. A gust of wind blows through the cave and he shivers, curling further into the warm body behind him. Butterfly huffs sleepily and tightens his arms around Hyunjin. After that, sleep finds him easily, and he drifts off with barely a second thought.


	2. Chapter 2

Hyunjin wakes up slowly.

It takes him a minute to remember where he is; his initial instinct is to cling tighter to the warm weight in his arms and go back to sleep. Then the events of the previous day come crashing down on him and his eyes shoot open.

Sometime during the night, he and Butterfly have adjusted so that Hyunjin is now curled into the god’s chest. His shirt has slid up in the night, aided by the fact that Butterfly’s leg is hooked over his hip. The shock of their bare skin pressing together is nearly enough for Hyunjin to push the other man off of him; he’s only stopped by the realization that, just like yesterday, Butterfly doesn’t understand the position that they’re in. Everything about the god screams innocence at that moment, whether it’s the soft snoring sound he’s making or the fact that his dick isn’t even hard.

Wait. Shit.

Butterfly may not be turned on, but Hyunjin sure is. Even knowing that it’s perfectly natural for his body to react like this, given that he’s eighteen and has apparently spent the night rubbing dicks with someone, Hyunjin can’t stop his face from flushing red with embarrassment. Any plans he had to maybe just stay in Butterfly’s arms and sleep for longer are immediately thrown out the window. He needs to get away, and he needs to do it now.

Considering how tightly Butterfly is wrapped around him, Hyunjin considers it a miracle that he’s able to slip from his grasp without waking him. He hesitates for a moment next to the shelf where he’s put his shoes and pants, but in the next instant he’s taking his shirt off to leave it there as well. He walks to the edge of the cave and, after turning briefly to make sure that Butterfly is still asleep, steps through the waterfall and slides into the pond, the splash of his body entering the water masked by the roaring of the falls.

He was hoping that maybe the water, slightly chilled, even in the late spring heat, would be enough to get his erection to go away. Unfortunately that doesn’t seem to be the case and, after about five minutes of swimming around with no sign of change, his body gets acclimated enough to the water that he doesn’t think this problem is going to fix itself without a little help.

With a sigh he locates a spot near the waterfall, on the other side of where the path to the cave is, where the rocks naturally form a seat. It’s enough out of sight that if Butterfly comes out of the cave, Hyunjin will see him before he is seen himself. He swims over and hauls himself out of the water, making sure that his legs can’t be seen past the rock. If Butterfly wakes up and comes outside, Hyunjin wants ample time to get in the water before he’s caught jerking off.

He hasn’t had the time or motivation to do this in a while, so stressed out by planning the wedding, and he sighs in relief as he wraps a hand around himself. Odds of him lasting very long are low - he already feels on edge and all he’s doing is holding his dick. He strokes himself, once, twice, muffling a groan with a hand over his mouth.

“Shit,  _ shit,” _ he mutters, twisting his hand over the head. There’s precum beading up at the slit, and he spreads it around as he fists his dick, pace growing quicker and more frantic now that he’s got the lubrication he was previously lacking. It feels so good - it’s been so long since he’s been able to touch himself, he’d nearly forgotten. 

His head is thrown back, resting against the rock behind him. He still has a hand over his mouth, but he’s a little worried it’s not doing much to help him at this point. Hyunjin has always been loud - he used to have to bury his face in his pillow to avoid his parents hearing him at night. 

“Oh, fucking -  _ fuck!” _

With a muffled shout he comes, spilling over his hand and down onto his stomach. He whimpers through the aftershocks, hips twitching up to seek that last little bit of friction before the stimulation is too much. Finally he can’t take it anymore, body falling slack as he lets go of his dick and relaxes back against the rock. He looks down at his stomach and hand, at the mess there. He  _ could _ just get in the water and wash it all away, but the idea of having to move right now is incredibly unappealing. Besides, he has always liked having something in his mouth.

He’s sucking on his fingers, cleaning them off, when he happens to look up. “Fuck!” he shouts, startling away from the rock. Perched above him, watching curiously, was Butterfly. “Shit - go away!” he snaps, embarrassed. 

Butterfly, as he is want to do, ignores Hyunjin, instead hopping down so that he’s sitting beside him. Hyunjin refuses to meet his gaze; how long was he watching? How much did he see? He can’t believe he picked this spot specifically so he could see if Butterfly was leaving the cave and then entirely missed it when he did.

In the next second, he regrets refusing to look at Butterfly. Maybe if he had been, he’d have been able to stop him. As it is, he doesn’t realize what the god is doing until there’s a finger swiping delicately over the cum left on his stomach.

His eyes snap up, watching in horror as Butterfly lifts his finger to his mouth. “No, Butterfly, don’t-!”

It’s too late; Butterfly closes his mouth around his finger and sucks happily. In the next instant, though, his happiness morphs to disgust, and he spits a mouthful of cum into the pond. The look of utter distaste on his face shouldn’t be funny, and yet it is; Hyunjin finds himself laughing helplessly, his laughter only growing louder when Butterfly pouts at him. 

“Silly,” he chastises gently. “It doesn’t taste good; just because I put it in my mouth doesn’t mean you should.”

Butterfly just pouts harder, then grabs his wrist to pull him off the rock. The water here is shallow enough to stand, coming up to about Hyunjin’s mid-thigh, leaving his still-dirty stomach exposed. Not that he stays dirty for long; Butterfly starts almost viciously washing the cum from his skin. 

Hyunjin can’t help but watch fondly. It’s strange, how quickly he’s become comfortable he is with this strange man. Even his embarrassment a moment ago wasn’t that bad, a fleeting feeling, washed away as the cum leaves his skin. He isn’t even bothered by the fact that they’re both naked; out here, with no one around, it’s almost as if the rules he’s lived his entire life by have been completely forgotten.

Finally, Butterfly is satisfied that he’s as clean as he’s going to get standing up, and pulls him down into the water. As soon as Hyunjin is seated, Butterfly climbs onto his lap, nuzzling into his neck just like last night. Hyunjin laughs; he can’t help it. This time yesterday Hyunjin was preparing for his wedding, something which seems so far away now that it’s almost surreal. He can’t believe this is his life and not some dream.

If it is a dream he’s not sure he wants to wake up.

\----------

Later, after he manages to coax Butterfly out of the water, Hyunjin realizes that he has no idea what to do today. Back home, he had a list of chores that typically took the entire day to accomplish. Here there’s absolutely nothing for him to do.

Butterfly disappears for a bit, returning with another bowl of berries. Just like last night, he insists on hand-feeding Hyunjin. This time, though, he does take a few for himself. Still, it’s not that many, probably only two or three, and Hyunjin frowns. Maybe Butterfly doesn’t need to eat as much as he does, or as often, but it doesn’t sit right with him regardless.

He takes the next berry that Butterfly picks up from his hand, ignoring the growl coming from deep in the god’s chest. Calmly, he holds it up to Butterfly’s mouth. The growl stops and Butterfly stares at him, seemingly dumbfounded.

“Come on,” Hyunjin says encouragingly. “Open wide.”

Butterfly stares at him a moment longer, then tentatively opens his mouth. It’s the first good look Hyunjin has gotten at Butterfly’s teeth - they’re pointy and sharp, and so white they almost seem to shine. They only add to the otherworldly wildness the god exudes.

“Good boy,” Hyunjin coos, feeding Butterfly the berry. Butterfly seems to light up and it’s clear he recognizes praise, even if he doesn’t know what Hyunjin is saying.

Hyunjin manages to feed Butterfly another two berries before the god resolutely turns up his nose at the food. Still, Hyunjin considers it a job well done.

When the bowl is finished, Butterfly leaps off Hyunjin’s lap and down from the large rock by the side of the pond that they’re both perched on. It’s then that it hits Hyunjin - quite literally, actually as Butterfly’s long, ratty hair swings as he jumps and smacks Hyunjin in the face.

There are stories of a time  _ before _ the wild god roamed the woods, a time when the woods were ruled by a benevolent nature spirit. He grew lonely by himself, and taught the beasts of the forest to talk and walk, turning into civilized beings - the first of humanity. Hyunjin’s village was thought to be descended from these people.

He may not be a nature spirit, but Hyunjin was the best in his village at calming any of the animals when they became agitated. A sheepdog isn’t exactly the same thing as a wild god, but Hyunjin figures he might as well try.

That’s going to be what he does here, he decides. He’s going to tame the wild god.

\----------

The thing is, for all that his new goal initially sounds easy, what with how calm Butterfly is all the time, Hyunjin really has no idea where to begin. How do you humanize someone when you don’t have any of the typical tools of a human? Finally he decides that he’s going to have to start simple. Maybe if he can make Butterfly look more human, and sound more human, he can convince him to take Hyunjin to the nearest village so that he can get supplies.

For the most part Butterfly does look fairly human. Really, it’s only his hair, teeth, and eyes that prevent him from looking like a man and since Hyunjin can’t fix two of those things, he makes up his mind to begin with the rat’s nest that’s on Butterfly’s head. 

He doesn’t have a brush, so instead he uses his fingers to untangle all of the knots. It takes him quite a while to even unknot one strand of his hair, and it quickly becomes clear that this is going to take a lot longer than he thought it would. 

Eventually he gets one strand entirely unknotted, but by the time he does the sun is high in the sky, morning having long passed and turned into the afternoon. There’s no point in starting another strand, not when the lights would vanish before he could finish. He pats Butterfly on the shoulder and stands, stretching. He thinks for a moment that it should bother him, the way Butterfly watches him as he works out the kinks in his body from sitting so still for so long; after all he’s still naked, not bothering to put on his pants again after this morning. It doesn’t though, and he accepts that this life of nudity is just his new reality. 

As soon as Hyunjin has slid down from their rock, Butterfly jumps off as well. He grabs Hyunjin’s wrist and pulls him to the ground, making him sit. For a moment Hyunjin thinks Butterfly is going to climb in his lap, but he’s wrong. Instead Butterfly presses an insistent hand against his chest, almost as if he’s telling him to stay. Before Hyunjin can say anything, the god has scampered off, disappearing into the forest. 

Huh. Well alright then.

For a while Hyunjin sits there, waiting for Butterfly’s return. When it becomes clear that he’s not coming back anytime soon, he stands and makes his way back into the cave. It’s not yet dark enough outside that he can’t see and so he makes his way back to the moss bed and settles in for a nap. One doesn’t really know what else he  _ can _ do. Maybe he should try and change the cave to make it more homey? He doesn’t even really know how he would do anything to make changes, seeing as he’s in the middle of an unfamiliar forest with only, quite literally, the shirt off his back. That, however, is a problem for another day. Right now he wants to sleep

\----------

He wakes up to a gentle hand shaking at his shoulder. When he blinks his eyes open, Butterfly is crouching above him, silhouetted by the light from the cave ceiling. 

“Hi,” he says, smiling as he sits up. He yawns and stretches his arms over his head. “When did you get back?”

Butterfly just stares at him for a moment, then, in one of the most adorable moves Hyunjin has ever seen, mimics his yawn and stretch, staring at Hyunjin when he’s done as if seeking approval.

Hyunjin can’t help but burst into peals of laughter. Butterfly looks like an eager puppy and it’s one of the cutest things he’s ever seen. “You’re cute,” he says, reaching out a hand. Butterfly takes it happily. In the next instant he moves, settling into Hyunjin’s side on the moss bed. He grabs the berry bowl from beside the bed and, in what is quickly becoming their meal-time ritual, holds one out for Hyunjin to eat. Hyunjin takes it, and they go through the whole bowl this way. This time Butterfly refuses to take any of the berries; Hyunjin supposes he might only needs to eat once a day, but he’s not really sure what the dietary needs of a deity are so he’s just going to have to assume that Butterfly knows how to feed himself properly if he’s survived as long as he has. 

When the bowl is finished Butterfly sets it on the ground and curls around Hyunjin. Any plans Hyunjin may have had to leave the cave again that evening are immediately squashed and, will no other options, he wraps an arm around Butterfly and makes himself comfortable.

There are worse ways to spend your life, he thinks as he falls back asleep, than this.

\----------

They fall into an easy daily rhythm; in the morning they go swimming, then Hyunjin works on Butterfly’s hair while the god feeds him berries (he’s gotten about a quarter of Butterfly’s hair unknotted at this point and in order to keep it from getting tangled together again he keeps it tied in a bun with a scrap of fabric he tore from his shirt. It never fails to make him laugh to see Butterfly with half his head covered in a matter mass while the other half is in a nice neat bun). Afterwards, Butterfly will disappear into the woods for a few hours, and Hyunjin sets about trying to improve his new living quarters. 

He’d started with the inside of the cave, determined to give himself something other than a pile of moss for a bed. Plus, he wants a blanket of some sort; he’s tired of only having Butterfly as a heat source when it gets cold at night. Unfortunately, he’s not quite sure how to go about this, so instead of focusing on the bed he decides to decorate.

Searching through the bushes on the outskirts of the clearing, he found some berries that, when crushed, turn bright red. He gathered as many as he could and put them in the bowl that Butterfly used to bring the berries for meals, crushing them with a rock he found. Then he used his fingers to paint designs on the walls of the wave. It wasn’t anything specific, just abstract patterns, but it looks pretty and it gave him a way to pass the time.

Eventually though, after about a week and a half of Hyunjin living with Butterfly, he can’t take it any longer. He’s going to go insane if he stays in this clearing for the rest of his life and so, when Butterfly leaves him alone one day, he puts on his shoes (which he hasn’t worn since his first day at the cave) and sets off into the woods in the opposite direction as Butterfly.

He brings with him a bowl of his berry paint and marks trees as he goes so that he can find his way back to the clearing. Hyunjin holds no delusions about his ability to survive out here without Butterfly; if he gets lost in the woods and the god can’t find him he doesn’t imagine he will survive for very long. 

Losing track of time, he wanders for hours. There’s no path that he’s following; he simply meanders through wherever the underbrush is thinnest. Just when it has begun to get dark, he decides it’s time to return home. He turns - and freezes in his tracks.

There’s a stone off in the underbrush, a large boulder. The rock in itself is not remarkable; what is remarkable are the glyphs carved into it.

When Hyunjin steps up to the rock, it becomes immediately apparent that he’s standing on the remnants of some sort of trail. Looking up the path he sees another stone a little further off. For a moment, he almost turns around and goes back to the clearing; he can follow this trail again tomorrow and return to examine the stones then. But by this point, Butterfly has probably returned to the clearing, and when Hyunjin goes back he probably won’t be allowed to leave for a while. By then all of his markers on the trees will have disappeared. So instead he walks up the trail to the next rock, and then the next, and the one after that, until suddenly he’s standing in front of a cave.

There’s a gate at the front of the cave, but it’s clear that no one has opened it in a while; ivy has crept over the bars and one of the doors hangs almost entirely off its hinges. It’s easy to crawl through the gap created by this and so Hyunjin does, leaving the bowl of berry paint outside.

Inside it’s dark, very little light coming in, and for the first time Hyunjin begins to feel uneasy. Then he takes one step further in and a brazier on the wall bursts into flame. He jumps, shrieking, but once he’s established that there doesn’t seem to be any threat to him, he hesitantly keeps walking forward.

Every brazier he passes as he walks down the tunnel of the cave bursts into flames, lighting his way. The floor is smooth, almost unnaturally so, but not slick and he doesn’t ever trip (which is impressive for him; his track record with flat surfaces isn’t great). 

Eventually he sees what looks like a cavern at the end of the tunnel, slowing being revealed to him as more and more braziers light up. He speeds up, moving quicker to get closer to what he assumes is the end goal.

He’s right; when he bursts into the cavern it’s clear that this was the end goal, so magnificently decorate that it couldn’t be anything else. As soon as he steps inside, the ceiling lights up, the same way it does in the cave where he’s been sleeping, and Hyunjin gasps in shock. The cavern itself is massive and the glow of the ceiling makes it seem magical.

Looking at the centerpiece of the cavern, however, it’s clear that that was the intention of whoever created this space. With the large monument in the middle of the cavern, the burning brazier sitting on the altar in front of it, and the table with a series of stone tablets resting on it, it’s clear that this space was once a temple.

However, for all that it is grand, it is also incredibly dirty; a heavy layer of dust covers everything and spiderwebs litter the cavern ceiling. Still, Hyunjin steps forward; he’s come this far, he wants to know what this temple was for more than he wants to stay clean.

The stone tablets are the first thing he reaches and while the stone itself is in fairly decent shape, the writing on it is not, the ink faded with time. Hyunjin does his best to read it; it seems, unlike the runes outside, that this is in his language and so he is able to make out words here and there.

There is one tablet, however, that makes his heart stop. It’s buried under the others and, rather than being covered in writing, there is a figure painted on it. It’s faded as well, as is the name written above the figure, but unlike the others these are a bit darker, perhaps because it was hidden under the other tablets.

Suddenly there is a clatter and when Hyunjin looks up, Butterfly is crouched in the entrance to the cavern. He’s looking more wild than usual, eyes wide and breathing labored, and when he sees Hyunjin he growls and races up to him, curling around his legs.

“Hi,” Hyunjin says quietly, his voice somehow still echoing in the cavern. “Did I scare you when I wasn’t there? I’m sorry.”

Butterfly looks up at him and whimpers and Hyunjin takes a moment to compare Butterfly’s face to the one of the man on the tablet. The image on the tablet is clearly of a god of some sort, and in that moment it becomes clear to Hyunjin what must have happened to make the wild god the way that he is. If a god loses their worshippers, if the people lose faith, the god is forgotten. But what happens to the god afterwards?

Hyunjin thinks that this is what happens, that they lose their humanity and become incapable of recognizing themselves. In that moment he knows what he needs to do in order to tame Butterfly; all he needs to do is have faith in him, worship him, love him. It will be easy enough to do; Butterfly has already carved away a place in his heart.

He puts the tablet back on the table and drops to his knees, taking Butterfly’s hands in his own. “I’m sorry for running away,” he says softly. “I was just trying to explore; I was always going to come back to you, I promise. I won’t ever leave you - why would I want to?”

Butterfly whimpers again and butts his head into Hyunjin’s shoulder. It’s cute, honestly, how upset Butterfly seemingly is at the possibility that Hyunjin would try to leave him. Knowing what he knows now, that everyone who ever worshipped or knew Butterfly left him, let him fall into obscurity, he can’t blame him. But he swears he will be different; he will be enough to bring Butterfly back into himself. 

“My god,” he says softly, lifting one of Butterfly’s hands and kissing it. “I swear that I will never leave you, that I will stay by your side for the rest of my life and worship you in the way that you, as a divine being, deserve. I make this oath now, my liege. My Seungmin.”

As soon as he says Butterfly’s name, the name written on the tablet, the lights begin to brighten, to the point where it’s nearly blinding and Hyunjin has to close his eyes to stop them from burning. There’s a ringing sound echoing through the cavern, and the sound of wind, almost like a whisper, that surrounds them, even as no breeze brushes their skin. 

When Hyunjin opens his eyes again, Butterfly looks much the same as before, and for a moment he’s disappointed. With the reaction that saying his name had gotten, Hyunjin had been hoping for something more. Then, however, he notices Butterfly’s eyes. 

Where before they had been completely black, now they look like normal human eyes, with whites and iris’ and pupils. They still look wild, and it’s clear that just because his eyes look normal doesn’t mean that the rest of him has recovered. That’s okay, though. All Hyunjin has is time, and he will spend as long as necessary bringing Butterfly back to reason.

Standing up he pulls Butterfly up with him. This, too, is something new; before this, Butterfly has never really left his crouched position, moving around on all fours like an animal. Now he stands tall, looking like a man, and Hyunjin smiles at him.

“Come on, Seungmin,” he says. “Let’s go home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> omg here we are!! chapter 2 finally. I'm sorry that took so long, but we're here now and the story is moving along nicely.
> 
> please remember to leave kudos/comments (especially comments because those motivate me to write more). 
> 
> if you want to talk to me you can message me at curiouscat.me/seungchxn or follow me on twitter @seungchxn
> 
> thank you for reading!!  
-c


	3. Chapter 3

At first, there are no noticeable differences in Seungmin besides his eyes. Even the way he walks remains the same, although occasionally he will stand on two legs rather than moving around like an animal. It’s almost disheartening, but Hyunjin tries not to let it get to him. He knew this probably wouldn’t be an easy task after all. He’s undoing what appeared to be centuries of behaviors; furthermore he’s only one person whereas, in his prime, Seungmin may have had hundreds of worshippers. Besides, it’s not like Hyunjin is going to go anywhere. He has nothing but time, and no one to spend it with but Seungmin.

He alternates between calling him Seungmin and Butterfly these days. The god seems to respond to both, although there’s never been another instance of magic besides that first time. Hyunjin knows that it’s probably better to refer to him as Seungmin, just to try and bring him back to himself. He can’t always bring himself to do so, however; Butterfly is what he first knew Seungmin as and it’s hard to change the way he refers to him sometimes. Maybe, once Seungmin has fully regained his humanity (or whatever the equivalent might be for a god), he’ll allow Hyunjin to use the name as a cute pet name. If he decides to keep Hyunjin around; one possibility that Hyunjin is doing his absolute best not to think about is Seungmin regaining his mind and sending Hyunjin home. 

If that is what happens, however, it won’t be for some time. It’s been two weeks now since Hyunjin found the cavern, and there’s been no change in Seungmin or their daily routine. Every day Hyunjin bathes, patiently lets Seungmin feed him breakfast, and then works on untangling his hair. He’s made progress on that, at least, even if it’s not much. He doesn’t mind though; it’s honestly soothing, just working on taking out the knots, running his fingers through tangled hair while trying to make it soft again. The routine is nice, familiar, comforting. As one week passes, then two, Hyunjin settles into it happily.

Then, one day, things change.

Seungmin leaves Hyunjin in the afternoon, the way he always does. Hyunjin has made a point each day of leaving the clearing to go clean up the temple. He’s gathered some moss and tied it together with some reeds so that he can use it to dust tables. He’s also found some old buckets and things in the small alcoves in the back of the cavern. He uses those to carry water from the pond so that he can scrub the floors. Slowly, ever so slowly, but surely, the cavern is beginning to look like it hasn’t been forgotten for centuries.

Normally Hyunjin’s cue to leave and go back to the pond that he’s very quickly come to think of as ‘home’ is when Seungmin comes to get him. There’s no real way to tell the passage of time in the cavern, so without the god collecting him each afternoon he’s not sure he would know when to leave. One day, however, the normal time when Seungmin comes passes. At first he doesn’t realize, too caught up in his cleaning. Eventually, though, enough time has gone by that Hyunjin grows concerned when there’s still no sign of him. 

Worried, he decides to leave for the day. What if something has happened to Seungmin? Yes, he’s a god, but _ still. _

It’s nearly dark outside and he walks the path slowly, scared he’ll miss a turn. Eventually, however, he emerges into the clearing with the pond. 

He can see a dim light glowing from the cave behind the waterfall, indicating that Seungmin is there. The cave never lights up unless the god commands it too. He breathes a sigh of relief; Seungmin is safe, thank the gods.

“Butterfly?” He calls, walking the path to the cave. “Seungmin?”

Suddenly, the god pops out from behind the waterfall. He looks excited, and he grabs Hyunjin’s hand and begins to tug him into the cave.

“Hang on, hang on, Butterfly, calm down, it’s - oh my gods.”

The inside of the cave has been entirely transformed. Crudely transformed, yes, but it’s more than evident what the end goal was. The moss bed has been covered by several blankets. In the corner, there’s an awkwardly constructed wooden shelf, on which Seungmin has put not only the berry bowl, but several other dishes that Hyunjin doesn’t recognize. There’s also a flint box, next to an empty pitcher and several cups. Ivy and flowers are draped across the walls, obvious attempts at decorations. Finally, on the natural stone shelf where Hyunjin has been storing his clothing and shoes, there are several new piles of clothing, as well as a new pair of boots.

“Butterfly,” he says, voice breaking just the slightest. “Butterfly where did you get all of this?”

Seungmin doesn’t respond, just headbutts Hyunjin’s thigh gently. Hyunjin sinks to his knees, taking Seungmin’s hands. “This is gorgeous,” he says. “I don’t know where or how you did this but _ thank you. _ I love it.”

\---

Among the items that Seungmin managed to find for the cave is a comb and a small knife, the kind typically used for wood-carving. Although it’s not ideal for trimming hair, it does make the process of fixing Seungmin’s much easier. Hyunjin does feel a little sad whenever he has to cut away a chunk of hair that’s just too knotted for him to untangle, but by the end of their normal morning routine he’s made more progress than he has in the entire time he’s been here.

He pulls back from Seungmin, putting the knife and comb down as he admires his handiwork. “Damn,” he says, whistling lowly. “You clean up good, Butterfly.”

Seungmin preens under the attention and nuzzles into Hyunjin’s hand as he runs it through his hair. Where before it was long, all the way down his back, and matted and tangled almost beyond belief, it now falls to his collarbones and feels almost soft to the touch. Although he’s still obviously not normal if you’re looking at his face, the sharp teeth and slightly feral look in his eyes making that impossible, from behind he looks like a civilized human being (albeit a naked one).

But even the features that distinguish him as wild and non-human seem different than they were when Hyunjin first arrived. His fangs look shorter, less threatening, although Hyunjin imagines that they’re no less deadly.

Over the next few weeks Seungmin only continues to improve. It becomes clear that yes, his fangs are certainly retracting, growing smaller and smaller. He also keeps bringing Hyunjin gifts to make the cave more home-like - it becomes common for Hyunjin to return from the temple only for Seungmin to offer him some new item. So far, Hyunjin’s favorites have been the three books that Seungmin brought him (they were clearly stolen, seeing as they had writing in the margins, but Hyunjin didn’t know where or how to return them so he resolved to take good care of them) and the spark rocks. Hyunjin didn’t even know how Seungmin knew that he wanted to be able to light a fire, but he proves once again to be willing to provide for any of Hyunjin’s needs or wants. 

The objects he’s brought so far, though, have all been useful, typically tools or clothing. For this reason, Hyunjin is completely shocked on the night he walks out of the forest and finds Seungmin waiting patiently on a rock by the cave with a dead rabbit.

“Holy - Butterfly, what the hell?”

Seungmin just smiles at Hyunjin and holds out his hands. In one, he’s holding the rabbit. In the other, the spark rocks. 

Hyunjin nearly drops the empty bucket he’s carrying. “Seungmin,” he says, voice barely more than a whisper. “Did you go hunting for me?”

At his words, Seungmin does something he’s never done before: he nods his head eagerly. Hyunjin is stunned - although Seungmin has responded to his tone of voice before, he’s never shown such signs of actually understanding what Hyunjin is saying.

Hyunjin can't help himself; he sinks to his knees in front of Seungmin and pulls him into a hug, not caring about the bloody rabbit the god is holding. “Oh Seungmin,” he whispers fiercely. “Seungmin, you’re coming back to me.”

\---

That night they eat roast rabbit along with the berries. Hyunjin hadn’t realized how much he missed other kinds of food, but one bite of meat had him practically moaning in bliss.

Across the campfire, Seungmin is watching him carefully, picking occasionally at the bowl of rabbit that Hyunjin had given him. 

Hyunjin raises an eyebrow at him, bemused. “Is everything okay, Butterfly? You’re staring.”

What happens next has him abandoning his food and scrambling around the fire to pull the god into a tight hug. Slowly, carefully, in an almost practiced manner, Seungmin opens his mouth and says, “Hyun...jin.”

\---

In the following few days, Hyunjin stops simply talking to Seungmin and instead starts trying to teach him to speak. They still have their morning routine, even if Hyunjin doesn’t need to detangle Seungmin’s hair anymore. Instead, Hyunjin works on scrubbing decades, maybe even centuries, of dirt from Seungmin’s skin. The god protested at first, but now he seems resigned to it, watching Hyunjin almost fondly. All the while, Hyunjin tries to coax him to say other words.

“Can you say ‘butterfly’?” he asks. “Come on, it’s not that difficult. Butt-er-fly.”

“Hyunjin,” Seungmin replies. It’s still the only thing he’ll say, but he’s gotten better at it, no more hesitance or stuttering. “Hyunjin.”

Hyunjin just sighs, although he’s clearly not upset. “Yes, that’s my name, you’re obsessed with me, we’ve known that since you first kidnapped me.”

Seungmin hums happily. “Hyunjin!”

Deciding to give up for the time being, they finish their routine and Hyunjin sets out for the temple, carrying a bucket of water with him. He’s mostly finished with the cleaning in the main room, but there’s a back room he’s never entered that he wants to clean today.

There’s the remains of a curtain hanging in the entrance to the room, but despite the fact that light should filter in, the area beyond is pitch black. Taking a torch from the tunnel into the cavern, Hyunjin decides that today is the day to see what else the temple has to offer.

What he finds leaves him wishing he’d never enter the room. Scattered across the floor, clearly having not been disturbed for centuries, are bodies. They’ve been dead for so long that they’re little more than skeletons, but it’s evident by the way that they’re splayed everywhere that this was a massacre.

Hyunjin feels vaguely like he’s going to be sick. “Oh gods,” he whispers. “What happened?” Is this somehow related to whatever made people stop worshipping Seungmin?

Across the room is an altar, smaller than the one in the main cavern, but more ornate. It’s clear that this one is much more loved than the other; this was probably where priests worshipped daily, while the other was most likely for large ceremonies. In front of the altar lies another body, this one appearing to have been placed there. It’s arms are crossed over its head, and the remnants of a rope circle it’s legs and wrists. Another body kneels before the altar, and although the bones have crumpled into a pile, from what Hyunjin can tell the person was kneeling, prostrating themselves, before they died. What’s most shocking about the room, however, is the glow that begins emanating from the altar as Hyunjin watches, incredulous.

The glowing light grows and changes color, takes shape, until it’s the clear figure of a strange man standing in the body-filled room. He’s clearly not human - given the fact that Hyunjin can see through him - but he’s also not inhuman in the way that Seungmin is. He’s wearing unusual looking robes, ones that look similar to the rags adorning the bodies. 

“Hello,” the man says, voice echoing strangely. “It has been a long time since I’ve seen you, Hyunjin.”

Hyunjin’s guard immediately goes up - if he were a dog, his hackles would be raised. “How do you know my name?”

“I’ve been waiting for you,” the man replies, ignoring the question. “I do not have much time left - the energy that holds my spirit here is almost gone, the conditions fulfilled. On the altar is a journal: read it. It has the answers you seek.”

“What answers? What do you mean, who are you?”

The man is growing fainter by the second, but he doesn’t seem to mind, instead smiling gently. “The journal will answer all your questions. Please use that knowledge wisely, and take care of our lord. Help him find happiness.”

“What - no, wait, you can’t leave!” It’s too late though, and the man fades into oblivion, peace etched across his face. Hyunjin looks around frantically, worried there may be someone or something else here, but there’s nothing but plain stone walls and corpses. Shivering, he hurries across the room and grabs the journal from the altar before leaving as fast as he can. 

Safely back in the grand cavern of the temple, he breathes a sigh of relief. He hadn’t realised when he was in the room, too distracted by the bodies, but there was a heavy air in that space, almost as though there was an oppressive force of some kind that draped itself over anyone who entered. He turns his attention to the journal then, trying to drive the feeling of that room from his mind. For something that is clearly so old, it is in fairly good shape, looking almost brand-new. Hyunjin nearly cracks it open and begins to read, but after glancing around the cavern again, trying to avoid looking at the backroom, he resolves to return to the cave and read there.

The trek back passes quickly, his mind occupied with what seems like 1000 things at once. Who was that man? Most likely he was one of the old priests that worshipped Seungmin and cared for the temple, but that doesn’t explain the bodies, or the journal, or the fact that his spirit seemed to have been waiting for Hyunjin. 

When he reaches the cave, he stows the bucket away and climbs on one of the rocks next to the pond to enjoy the sun filtering through the trees as he reads. At first, the journal doesn’t seem to contain much of interest - just the daily log of the temple. Then, on the last few pages, it begins to get interesting.

_ Perhaps it is sacrilege for me to use this book for such a purpose, but I find that there is little else in this temple that I can be assured of it’s preservation. Since it is unknown when our lord’s love will return, this account must last for as long as possible. _

_ My name is Lee Jiyong, one of the disciples of Seungmin, the god of the forest. Our temple is a small one, but the community that resides in this forest is small as well. For this reason, other gods tend not to venture here, leaving the domain entirely to my lord. _

_ For 500 years, all has been well. Lord Seungmin is kind and fair, blessing the forest with life and making it safe for all of his worshipers to traverse. He is also, based on the testimony of outsiders who come to the village, much more involved with the people than other gods. Whereas they prefer to remain aloof, he will visit the people, healing the sick and injured, helping them when there is a bad harvest, entertaining the children with little tricks and gifts. He is to our people a father, a grandfather, an uncle, a brother, and a son all at the same time. _

_ 18 years ago, a boy was born to a local farming family. They had prayed for many years for a child, and when their pleas finally bore fruit they brought the boy to the temple to show him to our lord. Something changed in our god when he first saw the boy; it was not obvious to most of his worshippers, but for those of us who dedicated our lives to him it was clear as day. _

_ It became very clear very quickly that our lord was almost wholly devoted to this boy. He began to neglect other things in his realm - small matters at first, although they increased in importance as time went on. As the boy grew older it became clear that he was just as, if not more, besotted as our god. During the boys 16th year, the god confessed and they began to see each other. They could often be spotted walking through the forest, holding hands - the boy was even permitted into the god’s residence in the cave behind the waterfall, something which no other human could claim. Although the god did not spend as much time with the people, he was so happy that the forest, and indeed, all of nature, flourished. _

_ Not everyone was satisfied with the new status quo, however. Several of my brethren grew jealous that our god was no longer paying attention to us. This jealousy brewed in their hearts, unnoticed by those who could stop it until it was too late. _

_ I had been in the village visiting family that day. On my way there I passed the boy, going to the pond to visit Lord Seungmin. To think what could have become if I had convinced him not to go to the cave - everything that followed could have been prevented! _

_ I did not return to the cave until very late in the day. The sight I walked in on when I arrived - I tell you truly, I have never been more horrified in my life. Splayed out on the floor in the back, his hands and legs bound, was Lord Seungmin’s love. _

_ He was quite clearly dead, his chest having been split open and some of his organs removed. It was quite evident what the purpose of this had been, seeing as his heart had been placed on the altar, a perverted offering to the one he loved. _

_ Around him lay the fallen bodies of the other priests. It was impossible to tell what blood was theirs and what was the boy’s. Lord Seungmin was crouched over the boy’s corpse. He wasn’t trying to revive him, or stop the damage, just resting his head on his love’s shoulder. I called out to him, and when he looked up at me I swear I was looking into the eyes of some feral creature. The god I loved was gone, lost in the grief and madness of losing the boy. He growled at me and ran from the room. I did not try to stop him - truthfully, I do not think I could have. _

_ I remained frozen to that spot for what seemed like hours, but could have been mere minutes. When I finally found the strength to move, I hurried to the temple entrance and shut the gate. None of the villagers deserved to see this, least of all the boy’s parents. With that done, I came back to this room, for the altar book. Normally used to record the daily happenings of the temple, I knew that no other book would survive the years and years of waiting that it would need to endure. _

_ You see, there are a few things about our god, and deities in general, that remain shielded from the general populace. These things are reserved only for the ears and eyes of the head priest and although I was not the head priest when these horrible deeds occurred, I was training to take over and so I had been given access to some of this knowledge as part of my training. Because of this I knew that gods only love once - and should the one they love be taken from them, that person will be reborn again and again until the couple has a happy ending. Because of this, I knew that the boy would return one day and save our god from the madness he had sunken into. _

_ The other thing I knew was an ancient spell that would tie me to this place. Long before even our Lord Seungmin existed, humanity was nothing more than a race of warring nomads. Some of those people learned to harness the natural energies all around us and used that power to hurt and control others. The Great One, in all her glory, saw this and wept at the pain her children caused each other. Her tears hit the ground and where they did the gods were formed. They taught humanity to love their fellow man, and confiscated the magic that humanity had created, guarding it in their temples and only allowing the most worthy of humans to know of its existence. One of these spells was designed originally as a punishment: it trapped a person in one place, neither dead nor alive, only able to be seen and heard under very specific conditions. They could not move on until those conditions, which were determined by the spellcaster, were met. It is this spell that I cast on myself. _

_ The conditions I set were that I would not be released until the boy was reborn and came to find me. This way, I could show him this journal, where I have recorded everything so that he may understand his fate. I do not know how long I will be trapped here; it could be 10 years, or it could be 10,000. But I do know that a time will come when I am released from this prison, when my soul may rest at last. I look forward to that day, for I know that it means my god will be happy again. _

_ I leave one last message before I enact the spell and seal my fate. It is this - to whomever is reading this, I know everything I have said may sound like a fantastic tale. I know not if the person reading this message is the reincarnation of my lord’s love, or someone else who has entered the temple and found this journal. If it is the latter - I beg of you, please return the journal to where you found it so that it may be read by the one who will need to know this story. If it is the former, you are probably wondering if everything I have told you is true. In order to prove the truth of my story, I shall say one more thing. The boy’s name, the one my lord loved - it was Hwang Hyunjin. _

Hyunjin stares for a moment at the last line in the journal. He closes his eyes, then opens them again, hoping that the words will have somehow changed. When he sees his name still there, he sags backwards. “Holy fuck.”

Beside him, Seungmin makes an inquiring noise and Hyunjin shrieks, jumping away slightly. “Butterfly, holy shit!” He was so absorbed by the journal, that he hadn’t even noticed that the god had returned. “You scared me.”

Seungmin just looks at him innocently, cocking his head slightly. Hyunjin can’t help but sigh, and reaches out to ruffle his hair. “I forgive you. Just try not to sneak up on me next time, okay?”

Practically purring, Seungmin nuzzles Hyunjin’s hand, then lays his head in his lap. Hyunjin sighs again, and keeps petting the god’s head. “I don’t know what to do,” he says quietly. “I never expected… I’m just a farmer’s son, and now I’m supposed to be the reincarnation of your lover? I’m supposed to be the one to save you? I know I was trying to do that before, but that wasn’t because it was my destiny, it was just because I felt bad for you.”

Seungmin doesn’t respond, of course, just makes that low purring noise again, and Hyunjin can’t help but regard him with fondness. “It’s weird to think about being in love with you, you know that? I know once upon a time you were aware of what it means to be human, you could walk and talk, and acted like a person. But the you that I know isn’t like that. You’re getting better and better every day, but for most of the time we’ve known each other you’ve been more animal than man and I don’t know how to register both versions of you at once.” Hyunjin suddenly laughs softly. “You know what this reminds me of? One of the bedtime stories my mother used to tell me. It was about a beautiful maiden who fell in love with a kind beast, even though everyone considered him a monster. I hesitate to call myself a beautiful maiden, but the rest of the story kind of fits, doesn’t it?”

Everything was silent for a moment, other than the sounds of nature and the quietly content rumble from Seungmin. Suddenly though, an idea hits Hyunjin and he begins to speak again.

“You know, in every romantic fable my mother ever told me, there was one thing that always made everything better. It always saved the day, no matter what. True love’s kiss.” He frowns. “I don’t know if it would work for us. I don’t love you - not like that anyway, at least not yet. Still, if I can fix you sooner… And I don’t even have any guarantees that what I’m doing right now is going to work well enough.”

He looks down at Seungmin, who’s lying there happily, his eyes closed as he basks in the sun. What if he tries this and nothing happens? All of the fables his mother had told him usually involved a spell being cast on one of the members of the couple. In this case, there’s no spell that’s been cast; the villain is Seungmin’s own mind, not some outside force. Still, what if he doesn’t try and then it turns out it would have worked? Hyunjin doesn’t know if he could forgive himself if he could help Seungmin and he doesn’t for his own selfish reasons. 

His mind made up, he takes a deep breath. This could be a turning point, changing the comfortable life he’s made for himself irrevocably. He can’t not try, though, so he steels himself. “Seungmin?”

The god’s eyes blink open and he smiles up at him. “Hyunjin.”

Despite his nerves, Hyunjin smiles back. “Can you hold still for one second? I’m going to try something.” Before he can lose his courage, he closes his eyes and bends down.

Rather than kissing Seungmin’s lips, he gently kisses his forehead. He presses another kiss to the bridge of his nose, before pulling away and opening his eyes.

Seungmin is smiling up at him happily, and for a moment Hyunjin thinks that's all that’s going to happen. Then suddenly this faint golden light begins to radiate from Seungmin. It grows stronger and stronger, until Hyunjin has to shut his eyes because it’s too bright. When it fades away, he tentatively peaks his eyes open and looks down at the god.

He can’t describe what it is, but _ something _ has changed; there’s an energy that surrounds Seungmin now, a power that he didn’t have before. He’s still staring up at Hyunjin, but where before it was fond and happy, now he looks shocked, and almost a little bit scared. Tentatively, he reaches a hand up, claws gone and nicely trimmed nails in their place. He ever so slowly, almost as if he’s afraid that Hyunjin won’t be there, cradles his cheek. When his hand makes contact with warm skin, he gasps, eyes shining as tears begin to well up. He opens his mouth and, in the most melodious voice Hyunjin has ever heard, breathes one word. 

“Hyunjin?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh lordy this took so long to publish i'm so sorry my brain was just Not cooperating. hopefully it does better at that from now on.
> 
> next chapter will be hyunjin and seungmin getting used to each other the way the are now. stay tuned for awkward, adorable fluff as they try and figure out what they are to each other
> 
> as always, leave kudos and comments (especially comments) to help motivate me to write more
> 
> find me on twitter @seungchxn or anon message me at curiouscat.me/seungchxn

**Author's Note:**

> ahhhh here it is!!! I'm so excited to finally share this with you guys. I'm actually really satisfied with how this turned out which is not something that usually happens.
> 
> I can't promise when the next chapter will be coming, but I'll do my best to get it out as soon as possible. it is almost examine season though so I can't promise to be super speedy. I will also be updating the tags as I write more so stay tuned!!
> 
> please leave comments and kudos!! especially comments, the more of those I get the more motivated I am to write
> 
> find me on twitter @seungchxn!!
> 
> -c


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